History of U.S. Educational Philosophies: Utilitarianism and Progressivism
U.S. education has changed greatly since the Puritans settled in New England during the
1600s. The Puritans shaped religion, social life, and government in North America to their
ideals. Their strong belief in education led them to establish Harvard and Yale as colleges and to
require a system of grammar schools in the colonies. The Puritans organized their government
according to the teachings that they found in the Bible and on the basis of their English
experience (Wilson, 2008).
There were two common beliefs among the colonists concerning education which were
similar to the European education system. The first was that only a few people needed formal
education. Education for the masses was uncommon in the world. European educational beliefs
for the masses focused on what people needed to know for life at home, apprenticeships, and
activities for daily living. There were schools for the rising mercantile classes, but formal
education was reserved for a select few, such as the nobility and clergy (Marsh & Willis, 1999).
The second assumption shared by the early settlers was formal education should be
directed at bringing people into conformity with some prevailing ideal of what an educated
person should be. This included religious training; therefore, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew were the
mainstay of the curriculum (Marsh & Willis, 1999).
In 1647, Massachusetts passed a law requiring every township that had 50 or more
households to appoint a teacher of reading and writing, and every township with 100 households
or more were required to provide a Latin grammar school. Enforcement of this law was done
inconsistently (Button & Provenzo, 1983). Despite the inconsistency of enforcement, children in
Massachusetts were far better educated than children in other colonies. These basic reading and
writing instructions became known as dame schools. This term was coined because most of the
teachers were women and conducted their lessons in their homes (Barger, 2004). Massachusetts
was the forerunner of modern education including curriculum and compensatory education
guidelines. The majority of children in the colonies received no formal education at all (Button
& Provenzo, 1983).
The most common model for formal schools was based on Latin grammar school. This
was due to the church’s heavy reliance on Latin as part of their Christian teachings. The clergy
needed to know the languages in which scriptures were written; therefore, the curriculum of
Latin in grammar schools differed very little from the curriculum of similar schools in Europe
(Marsh & Willis, 1999). The majority of the curriculum focused on reading and writing and
there were some rudimentary mathematics. Students who remained beyond the first few years of
school were exposed to classical Greek and Latin literature, as well as scriptures (Barger, 2004).
References
Barger, R. (2004). Colonial period. Retrieved from http://www.nd.edu/~rbarger/www7/
Button, H., & Provenzo, E. (1983). History of education and culture in America. Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Marsh, C. J. M., & Willis, G. (1999). Curriculum: Alternative approaches, ongoing issues (2nd
ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Wilson, J. B. (2008). Media and children’s aggression, fear, and altruism. Future of Children,
18(1), 87–118.